I've just read the template letter. Obviously lots of people have been working very hard on this, and I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade - but it really doesn't make very much sense to ask MPs to sign the petition. The petitions website is a mechanism by which members of the public can bring issues to Parliament's attention. MPs *are* Parliament - they don't need to sign a petition if they want Parliament to discuss an issue. They have all sorts of other mechanisms they can use to raise issues. Off the top of my head - Ministerial questions, Ten Minute Rule Bills, Early Day Motions, Adjournment debates, Westminster Hall debates...
Getting people to write to their MP is a great idea - but this isn't the right thing to ask of them. It's not my campaign, so it's not my call to make, but I think this aspect could do with a little rethinking. I hope I'm not treading on anyone's toes by saying that.
Tagging
@JaimeS just to make sure she sees this as well.
People can (and are encouraged to) shift the letter to say anything that they like, whatever they feel will be most effective.
I do believe that asking MPs to sign is an effective strategy, especially if they tweet that they did so, as the UK petition site allows them to do. Because they are in positions of authority / power, even if they don't tweet it themselves, if they reply that they signed, the individual who spoke with them can tweet the news with the hashtag of their MP, or @ them -- showing that People In Authority believe things must be done about the issue. This has the potential to net additional signatures to get us to that 10,000 more swiftly. Or, given a strong fighting-spirit and the fates on our side, the 100,000 it takes to get a debate on the Parliament floor.
I do believe that people in government signing the petition helps bring more attention to GET trials in ME patients. I don't think I would see that as hypocritical, since a signature is a tick-box of support, whereas an MP supporting us enough to present our concerns as a petition is a pretty big deal. I'd compare it to signing a petition saying we need more funding for ME research versus donating a substantive sum of money to OMI: one is a bigger and more visible commitment.
While it is possible to ask an MP to present a petition, it is more powerful to have those 10,000 signatures to demonstrate that this is an issue of incredible importance to the public before doing so. Otherwise, I believe we are too easy to dismiss.
As we continue to cultivate relationships with MPs throughout this effort, we can and will gain champions to the cause, the same way we did and are doing in the US Congress. But that requires some groundwork. In this case, the groundwork is outreach in conjunction with a successful petition.
I think it's a great idea to ask MPs to present a petition as part of our overall strategy. And thank you for:
- being respectful in your CC
- offering a solution to the problem as you see it, rather than pointing out an issue and swanning away
In other words,
thank you very much! I am going to tag
@L.A. Cooper so she can see everyone's suggestions and have a think about this.
Jaime